2 Kings 9:17

9:17 Now the watchman was standing on the tower in Jezreel and saw Jehu’s troops approaching.1 He said, “I see troops!”2 Jehoram ordered,3 “Send a rider out to meet them and have him ask, ‘Is everything all right?’”4

2 Kings 17:9

Context17:9 The Israelites said things about the Lord their God that were not right.5 They built high places in all their cities, from the watchtower to the fortress.6

2 Kings 18:8

Context18:8 He defeated the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from the watchtower to the city fortress.7

1tnHeb “the quantity [of the men] of Jehu, when he approached.” Elsewhere שִׁפְעַה (shif’ah), “quantity,” is used of a quantity of camels (Isa 60:6) or horses (Ezek 26:10) and of an abundance of water (Job 22:11; 38:34).

2tn The term שִׁפְעַת (shifat) appears to be a construct form of the noun, but no genitive follows.

4tnHeb “Get a rider and send [him] to meet him and let him ask, ‘Is there peace?’”

5tn The meaning of the verb וַיְחַפְּאוּ (vayÿkhappÿ’u), translated here “said,” is uncertain. Some relate it to the verbal root חָפַה (khafah), “to cover,” and translate “they did it in secret” (see BDB 341 s.v. חָפָא). However, the pagan practices specified in the following sentences were hardly done in secret. Others propose a meaning “ascribe, impute,” which makes good contextual sense but has little etymological support (see HALOT 339 s.v. חפא). In this case Israel claimed that the Lord authorized their pagan practices.